Is this the coolest party speaker ever?
Marshall's new Bromley 750 party speaker is a hefty boombox with a price tag to match
Marshall has become well-known for its hefty Bluetooth speakers and now there’ a new top-ender – the Bromley 750 which will be available from 23 September for $1299/£900.
More so than perhaps any other Marshall product, it leans into the company’s six decades of loudspeaker design, even down to the chunky red power switch.
Like the Heston 120 soundbar earlier this year, the Bluetooth 5.3-capable Bromley strikes into a new area for Marshall since it’s unashamedly a party speaker. And, by popular definition it has lights.
Yep, there’s “integrated stage lighting” as Marshall calls it. But in reality this appears to be ‘twinkly lights behind the speaker grille’, though it’ll be interesting to see what it’s actually like when I come to review it. There are three lighting presets – ambient plus a couple more that react to the music.
Wheels and a handle are included on the unit which isn’t surprising considering the eight drivers on board since the whole thing clocks in at 24kg and 65cm high.
Despite the chunky audio that includes two 10in 150W woofers, you can run this speaker without mains power. Battery life is pretty decent for a speaker of this heft – cited at around 40 hours and you can juice up other devices from it too as well as get five hours of playback from a 20 minute fast charge. The battery is replaceable so you could keep a spare, while you can also run it off of AC power of course.
The Bromley 750 offers 360 degree sound including double top tweeters that force sound upwards.
You’re able to tweak the audio to suit you, too; as well as the traditional Marshall volume, bass and treble knobs, you also get another knob to modify the character of the sound – the standard setting is ‘dynamic’ though you can also select ‘loud’ if you’re outdoors and you need a bit more punch. Talking of being outdoors, the unit is also IP54 rated for dirt and water resistance.
You can also plug other gear into it such as instrument or turntable for example. Or perhaps a microphone – there are two XLR inputs in addition to 3.5mm input and output, USB-C for playing from a laptop or media player plus RCA as well, for hi-fi gear.
Dan Grabham
Editor-in-Chief